Regret
by Nikichanx
Summary: When Natsu & friends sneak away on a 'suicide' mission, they arrive in a village far past the mountains of Mt. Hakobe. Learning the village festival celebrating an ancient prophecy is about to occur, Fairy Tail is selected as the 'honored guests', with Gray as the deemed 'chosen one'. Yet when another guild threatens the village's treasure, it's Fairy Tail's job to step in! OCXGray


**Regret**

**Chapter One: "X791"**

* * *

The sky was light blue. Rays of sunlight beamed down on the forehead of a young girl as she rested peacefully atop the grassy hill. She stared lazily at the passing clouds as the wind continued to sweep her long brown hair against her face. Closing her eyes, she embraced every ounce of warmness the sun had to offer her. Several months had passed since the Grand Magic Games and Fairy Tail's unexpected victory against Sabertooth. Our story now however, begins in a small village just on the outskirts of Mt. Hakobe.

"Do you honestly expect to do this all day?" came a voice from above.

The girl opened her eyes to see another girl with short, purple hair eyeing her impatiently. She grinned to herself as she studied the stern expression spread across the irritated girl's face.

"Hayden." she smirked, shutting her eyes once more, "Shouldn't you be at the churchyard?"

"You realize they're finally back after all these years." replied the purple-haired girl ignoring her friend's comment. There was a brief pause as another breeze passed through the hilltop. She sighed heavily, her impatient expression now more calm and relaxed. "You know what this means, don't you?"

The young girl sat up, narrowing her eyes as she scanned the horizon. She tucked the loose strands of her brown hair behind her ear and whispered:

"Fairy Tail, eh?"

* * *

"Lucy!"

.

.

"Lucy! Wake _up_~!"

Lucy Heartfilia awoke to the streams of morning sunlight shining through her bedroom window. She let out a soft groan as she turned over on her side, rolling away from the source of unwanted noise. Her eyelids still felt heavy from the previous late night, while the warmth of her bed prevented the blonde from making any sudden movements.

"_Lucy!"_ called the voice one more.

The Celestial Wizard forced her body to sit upright. As she slowly lowered the blanket from her face, she let out a well-needed yawn before choosing to identify whom the high-pitched voice belonged to. Lucy's eyes widened at the sight of a small blue cat staring straight at her. It was almost immediately that her peaceful expression dropped to one of annoyance and anger.

"Geez, are you gonna' sleep all day!?" whined the cat whipping its tail back and forth. Just then, a lean boy with spiked pink hair rose up from the foot of the mage's bed. He scratched his head sleepily.

"Hey Happy, what time is it?" he asked in between a yawn.

Lucy blinked twice as she stared at the un-welcomed cat and pink-haired salamander. She grimaced angrily as she jerked the blanket back, causing the blue cat Happy to be swept off his feet and collide straight with Natsu's face.

"Hey! What'd ya' do that for?!" exclaimed the fire mage rather irritated. Lucy glared at the boy fiercely, "Just _what _did I tell you two about sneaking into my house without notice?!" she snapped back.

Natsu shooed her away, "We tried to ask, but you were snorin' away!" he explained indifferently, "Besides, the window was wide open."

"Aye!" cheered Happy raising a paw.

"I don't snore!" exclaimed Lucy clenching her teeth. "And that still doesn't give you two jerks permission to barge in!" she shouted. Natsu ignored the angry outburst and jumped on the bed, "Hey, how about we go on a mission today?" he said beaming brightly. "I'm getting bored staying at the guild all day!"

"Aye!" repeated the blue cat once more.

"Shut up ya' stupid cat!" barked Lucy. She paused then looked off to the side. Stroking her chin slowly, she let out a sigh,"Well, I _could _use the extra money, considering my rent's finally been paid off for the month."

"Great!" exclaimed Natsu grabbing her by the arm, "Let's go!"

"W-Wait!" panicked Lucy as she tried to break free from his grasp. "I need to change first!…And shower!"

It was no use. The grip of Natsu was far too strong and before she knew it, Lucy was headed down the streets of Magnolia as Happy chased behind.

* * *

Even from a distance, a loud commotion could be heard coming from the direction of the notorious guild. It happened to be so loud, that it seemed to echo far through the streets of Magnolia. Of course the guild of Fairy Tail was famously known for their loud ruckus, yet despite all that, the residents of the large town still seemed to grow constantly annoyed by it.

The guild hall was relatively 'normal' that afternoon. With the young waitress Mirajane serving everyone drinks, the local members eagerly caught up on the latest gossip caused by none other than the guild itself. Cana had already managed to finish her second 'keg' of booze while Elfman continued to lecture Jet and Droy about the true meaning of being a 'man'.

The doors flew open as Natsu appeared in sight with his usual enlarged grin. Everyone turned to welcome their arrival with joyous waves and grins. A reluctant Lucy followed close behind as the Salamander and Happy sprinted toward the request board, nearly knocking Mirajane over in the process.

"Good morning, Lucy." said Mirajane flashing her familiar sweet smile as the blonde mage meandered her way over to the bar. Mira eyed her, giggling softly at her unusual choice of outfit. "Did Natsu wake you up _again_ this morning?"

Lucy rested her head on the palm of her hand and let out a heavy sigh. "That idiot Natsu rushed me out so quick this morning. I didn't even get a chance to change!" she replied trying to contain her anger.

Mirajane smiled once more and placed an empty tray on the table beside her. "Don't worry, I have some spares." she reassured with a wink.

Lucy smiled in relief, "Thanks Mira."

* * *

By that time Natsu was already halfway done with scanning the request board. None of the missions listed however, appeared to even catch an ounce of his attention. He furrowed his eyebrows impatiently as Lucy approached him from behind, now dressed in a short denim skirt and yellow tank top.

"Find anything?" asked the Celestial mage placing her hands on her hips.

Happy lowered his head in defeat, "No.." he whined. "All the _good re_quests must have been taken."

"This bites!' shouted Natsu. He thrusted his fists in the air as he stomped in place angrily. "Just what am I supposed to do _now?!_"

"Oi!" called out a familiar voice from behind.

Lucy, Natsu and Happy turned to see Gray leaned up against the wall. He casually held up a piece of paper as a smirk appeared across his face. "I managed to already snag a request this morning." he replied cooly. "Take a look."

Natsu walked over to the ice mage and leaned in closely to study the faded parchment. After several seconds, he raised his eyebrows as if completely unenthused, "Search for some ancient treasure? _Pass_."

Gray twitched in annoyance and shoved the paper in closer to Natsu's face, "Keep reading Flame Brain." he frowned. Growing impatient, Lucy pushed Natsu aside and examined the request in further detail. As soon as she reached the bottom of the page, her eyes widened in shock. "Woah, the reward is 800,000 Jewel?!"

Almost immediately Natsu jumped up in excitement, "800,000?!" he exclaimed. "'I'm getting fired up!"

"Aye! Let's go!" cheered Happy mimicking his good friend's actions. Gray lowered the paper, "Just hold on a sec', there's one more thing you should know…"

.

.

.

Meanwhile in the corner lurked a spying Juvia. Her eyes, as usual, were fixed only on the young ice mage as she remained hidden behind the wooden post. "G-Gray-sama is going on _another_ mission?" she cupped her face in dismay. "That means Juvia won't be able to see him until he gets back!"

"Why don't you just tag along, Juvia?" suggested an eavesdropping Mirajane from behind.

Juvia blushed immensely, "J-Juvia? Alone on a mission with my dear Gray-sama!?"

"-And Natsu, Happy and Lucy!" reminded the barmaid with a smile. Juvia's head shot up in response to the Celestial wizard's name. "_My_ love rival?! Alone with _MY _Gray-sama?!" She gritted her teeth in anger, "Juvia _cannot_ let this happen!"

Back over at the request board, Natsu, Happy and Lucy fell quiet as they awaited a response from Gray. The ice mage crossed his arms and looked up, "The request comes from a village called Aldmead."

"Aldmead?" repeated Natsu completely lost. Lucy arched her eyebrow in interest, "What does that mean?"

"It _means _the three of you knuckleheads _WON'T _be taking this request." interrupted a voice from above.

The three wizards looked up to see an extremely short, elderly man glaring down at them from the balcony. It was Fairy Tail's very own guild master, Makarov. He leaped over the railing, landing directly in front of Natsu, Lucy, Happy and Gray. Crossing his hands behind his back, the small man shot them a look of anger.

"There's no way the three of you will be attending this request alone!" he snapped.

"But we've taken on plenty of requests on our own before." replied Gray slightly confused.

"C'mon Gramps! I'm pretty sure I can take on this request by myself!" added the pink-haired salamander.

"Absolutely not." replied Makarov bluntly. "Aldmead is a village far past the mountains of Mt. Hakobe. It would be impossible for the three of you to travel on such a dangerous path!"

"He forgot me…" whined Happy under his breath.

"Not only that," continued the master, "There's also said to be a dangerous monster that guards the outside gates of the village. Even _if_ you boneheads manage to pass the mountains taking on that creature alone would be a complete act of suicide!"

Lucy trembled as she held on tightly to Happy, "S-Suicide?"

"What about Erza, Master?" asked Gray.

"Erza's away on an S-Class mission at the moment." interrupted Mirajane, now appearing behind Makarov, "She won't be back for several days!"

Makarov stroked his mustache, "Come to think of it, Wendy's also away on a mission." he shook his head and frowned, "That settles it, you all are _definitely _not going!"

"Come-_on_!" whined Natsu. Lucy sighed in relief as Gray crossed his arms behind his head, "Well that settles it…" replied the ice mage, "Looks like we won't be making that 800,000 Jewel."

* * *

"Man, this blows." snapped Natsu throwing himself in one of the seats of the small table.

"Maybe it's for the best." commented Lucy still sounding relieved. She took a seat beside the fire mage as Gray pulled up a chair from behind. "It probably would have been worth all that money though." he added.

"Aye…" agreed the small blue cat.

Just then a drunken Cana leaned over to the whispering mages, "You know…" she hiccuped, "If you guys _really _wanna go, I know a shortcut to getting there."

"Really?!" replied Natsu, growing more excited by the second. Lucy's face seemed to drop as Gray raised his eyebrow rather intrigued. Cana nodded and grinned. "There's a small cave entrance on the side of Mt. Hakobe. It leads you completely through the mountains and into the forest."

Natsu jumped up and clenched his fists. "Seriously?!" he exclaimed.

"Sounds dangerous…" whined Lucy.

"I gotta' warn you kid," began Cana, "That forest is no walk in the park. The walk alone is about three days, and with that being said, there's no telling when you'll run into that crazy monster."

Fire began to radiate off Natsu's fist as a determined grin formed across his face.

"I'm all fired up!"

"Guess there's no other choice." added Gray with a smirk.

"W-Wait a second!" stuttered a nervous Lucy, "Didn't Master say it would be _complete_ suicide?!"

"That hasn't stopped us before!" grinned Natsu eyeing Happy.

"Aye!"

Lucy sighed heavily as she sunk lower into her chair. "These guys are trying to kill me." she whimpered under her breath. Natsu shot up from his seat, "Well c'mon!" he exclaimed. "Let's g-" Just before the fire mage could finish his sentence, Gray rushed over to him and covered his mouth.

"What are you stupid?!" scolded the ice mage, "Do you _want _Gramps to hear you?"

Natsu's eyebrows twitched in annoyance as he swatted Gray's hand away. "You wanna' start somethin', Ice Princess?!" snapped Natsu as fire began to radiate off his body.

Gray scowled and rolled his sleeve up, "What was that, ya' Flame Brain retard?!"

Lucy and Happy watched tiredly as the two mages continued to exchange cliche insults at each other. After several moments, Natsu clenched his fists impatiently, "That's it!" he shouted, "Let's go already!"

"W-Wait, we're going _now_?!" exclaimed Lucy. Yet before she could obtain an answer, Natsu sprinted off toward the front door with Happy following close behind. "C'mon Happy!" he called.

Gray gritted his teeth, "You won't win, Natsu!" he shouted quickly running after the fire mage. Lucy blinked as she was now left standing in the guild hall alone. She shook her head and quickly chased after her comrades.

"Hey! Don't leave me!"

* * *

The sound of heavy boots echoed through the dark, empty corridor. A man with an impressively large stature made his way down the wide hall and toward a solid iron door. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of round, dark sunglasses, while his untamed hair covered parts of his stolid face. As he approached the door, he adjusted his glasses once more and slowly stepped inside.

The room was filled mainly with plain, worn-out furniture. Two couches sat across from each other and a sturdy desk rested directly in the center.

"Nice of you to join us, Priest." came the gruff voice of a shadowed figure. It emerged out of the darkness to reveal an older looking man with jet-black hair. He walked over to the desk and positioned himself firmly in the cushioned chair.

"You're looking pleasant." he smirked, a slightly amused tone present in his voice.

The man known as Priest remained silent, still holding a frustrated, angry expression across his face. After a moment of hesitation, he finally spoke, "Is there a reason you've called me here?"

"Always in a rush, eh Priest?" came another voice from behind.

Priest closed his eyes and frowned, "I should have known you'd be here." he replied sternly.

"If you boys are both finished getting reacquainted…" interrupted the black-haired man, "I'd like to talk to you about your mission."

"Mission?" repeated the younger boy, still cloaked by the shadows.

"You'll be collecting an ancient treasure said to possess incredible magic power. It's also known to be extremely valuable." explained the man. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a slip of paper. "No questions. Here is the location."

Priest eyed the paper as the veiled figure surfaced from behind. It was revealed to be another man, yet much younger and of slight 'taller-than-average' height. He approached the desk and retrieved the slip of paper. His eyes widened as he studied the small print, "Why here?" he asked slightly off guard.

"Is there a problem?" inquired the man at the desk. He folded his hands and leaned in as tension quickly filled the room.

"No."

"Good. Arina will also be accompanying you two…" said the man with a mischievous grin tugging at his lips. "Now, with that being said…" He turned his attention over to the taller man, "I'll expect nothing less from you, Priest." With a pause he turned back over to the younger-looking one and smirked, "You as well…-"

"…Hunter-chan."


End file.
